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Psalm 75

Vs. 1 thanks God for being near;

Vs. 2-5 give God’s warning to sinners in their pride;

Vs. 6-8 give superiority to God, who is Judge;

Vs. 9 praises God;

Vs. 10 gives God’s final Judgment.

There is nothing to indicate exactly when, or to whom, this Psalm should apply, but it is included in Asaph’s collection. Certainly, God has rendered rightly in His past judgments that affected the World: Flood over all the earth (Genesis 6-9); Divided Languages over Tower of Babel (Genesis 11); deliverance of Lot from Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19); preservation of Israelites in Egypt (Genesis 41-50); deliverance of Israel from Egypt (Exodus 7-14). Psalm 75 could easily be foreshadowing the final Judgment of mankind (Hebrews 9:27-28).

Verse 1: God is praised for stepping in with miraculous judgments in the past.

Verses 2-5: God speaks out as to “why” He has done so: (verse 2) it was “the proper time” for a proper judgment. Such a time when He sent Jesus to earth (Galatians 4:4), and also when He sends Jesus to call everyone up to Judgment Day (John 5:28-29; Acts 17:30-31; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18); (verse 3) it will be when the Creator destroys His created Earth (2 Peter 3:10-12); (verses 4-5) it will be the take-down of the uplifted! Boasting in oneself is the product of “bitter envying” and “self-seeking” creating “arrogance” and is “a lie against the truth” and “evil” (James 3:14; 4:16). Hence, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate” (Proverbs 8:13). It has always been true “The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, And the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the LORD of hosts Shall come upon everything proud and lofty, Upon everything lifted up-And it shall be brought low” (Isaiah 2:11-12). Surely, the defeats of evil forces in recent history are not wasted on us: European National Socialism (Nazi), Facsism (Italy), European Marxist Socialism, Iraqi (Babylonian) conquests. When evil arises, God can (and has!) leavened it.

Verses 6-8: There is no direction on earth from which “exaltation” of this magnitude can come (verse 6). Only “God is the Judge” (verse 7), and in the “high offices of men,” it is “the Most High God [who] rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses” (Daniel 5:21). Jesus reminded a representative of government that “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:11). Today we are reminded: “by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16). The cup of red wine (verse 8) represents God’s condemnation and judgment against those who participate in the arrogance of power (Revelation 14:9-10).

Verse 9: Believers will reaffirm their commitment to God.

Verse 10: “Horns” represent the strength of creatures who possess them (Deuteronomy 33:16-17), thus God will “cut off” the “horns of the wicked,” but exalt the “horns of the righteous.” Justice is found in the Judgment of God, not in the judgments of men. Only when men are guided by God’s judgments are they right!

All Scriptures and comments are based upon the New King James Version, unless otherwise noted.